“It’s tough to be middle class in America today, and a lot of folks that
are in the middle class have now found themselves falling into poverty, having
to go on food stamps. This is very different than the kind of
record that occurred under Ronald Reagan.”

And Leonhardt -- who was working at the time as a research analyst for the Oregon Legislature -- offers this response:

I realize when Romney spouts this nonsense, he's depending on people's
memories being shorter than that of a gnat, but here's what I remember of the
Reagan record in Oregon: a whole lot of folks in the middle class falling into
poverty and going on food stamps.

Before the Bush Recession became the
greatest economic catastrophe to hit Oregon since the Great Depression, there
was the Reagan Recession of the 1980s. His appointee to head the Federal
Reserve, Paul Volcker, raised interest rates to kill inflation, deliberately
starting a recession. High interest rates killed construction of houses --
houses made of Oregon Douglas Fir. Oregonians were collateral
damage.

Unemployment in Oregon was over 10 percent; rental truck records
showed more people moving out of the state than were moving in. I worked for
the state Legislature at the time; I remember the misery and despair, and I
remember the epic legislative special session battles over balancing the budget
when revenues dried up.

I remember moderate Republicans and a "conservative"
Republican governor, whom the Tea Party would label a Marxist if he ran today,
willing to compromise with Democrats for the good of the state, with a mix of
budget cuts and revenue increases.

And who were the demagogues, the ones who
voted against every proposal? The Reagan Democrats -- Drew Davis, Peg Jolin and
Lonnie Roberts. In fact, they were the only legislators to stand on the front
steps of the capitol and kiss Jerry Falwell's butt when he brought his Moral Majority roadshow to Salem.

And Oregon had it good compared to the Rust Belt. Bruce
Springsteen was simply reporting the facts when he wrote, "Foreman says these
jobs are goin' boys and they ain't comin' back..."